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Erin Brockovich
Making the Ultimate Effort: The Story of Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich is story of the real world experience of one woman’s extraordinary effort to overcome the injustice perpetrated on the citizens of a small community in California. It is not only the heroic story of one woman’s effort to right a wrong, but an illustration of how making the ultimate effort can attract the ultimate response from life. Here’s that story in a nutshell: Acts of Desperation As we pick up on the details of Erin’s life, we find her in the midst of great turmoil. A former Miss Utah beauty queen, Erin is unemployed, twice divorced, and desperately trying to raise three children, including a newborn baby. She is out of money and the bill collectors are literally at her doorsteps. To overcome her plight, Erin rushes from one interview to another, desperately seeking employment. Unfortunately, she is unable to secure work -- primarily because she lacks the skills for the positions she was after. In the midst of this frenzy, Erin gets into a car accident and injures her neck. She decides to take legal recourse in order to win a financial settlement and is referred to the law offices of Masry Vititoe in Southern California, where she meets Ed Masry, the partner and owner of the firm. Masry agrees to take up her case and confidently assures her he will win it. A trial follows, which ends in utter failure for Erin – due in part to lack of real evidence, and in part because of her vulgar outbursts in the courtroom. With so many obstacles to overcome, the court rules against her and tosses out the case. As a result, Erin is left without the settlement money she hoped would lift her out of her miserable condition. Outside of the courtroom, Erin turns her anger against her attorney Ed Masry for failure to win the case! She then rushed off in a huff, frustrated and angry. All her persistent efforts to find a job to support her family end in failure. One day, in an act of utter desperation, Erin appears at the office of Masry Vititoe. There she informs Ed that since he lost the case and brazenly insists that he offer her a job at his firm! Erin tells him “I’m smart, I’m hard working, and I’ll do anything to get a job.” In part out of pity, and in part because of her extreme forcefulness, Ed relents and gives Erin a clerical position at the firm. Opportunity of a Lifetime Like many attorneys, Ed Masry offered pro bono work -- i.e. free legal assistance – as a service to the community. Erin is assigned responsibility for handling documents on a pro bono real estate case in Hinkley, California. She is puzzled when she discovers medical records a a Hinkley family included among the real estate files, and asks Ed for permission to investigate. Erin learns that Pacific Gas & Electric, the $28 billion electric utility company, had purchased several homes in the Hinckley area and offered to purchase many others for the stated purpose of building a freeway off-ramp to their plant. But she also discovered that PG&E had actually purchased the properties of several individuals whose homes sat on land which contained groundwater contamination and that the utility company had also paid the medical bills for several individuals who suffered physical ailments due to the contamination. Erin spends a week in Hinkley researching the facts and returns back to the office to discover she has been fired for not reporting in. She leaves in fury and once again resolved to search for a new job. A few days later Masry shows up at her home. A professor she has contacted regarding the Hinkley case has called reporting that the lab tests show a poisonous substance in the water. Erin gets her job back with a 10% raise and benefits. Over the next several weeks, Erin interviewed several householders in the Hinckley area whose family members had fallen seriously ill due to the contamination. Their tragic reports of suffering – including revelation of tumors, cancers, and malfunctioning internal organs –- were heartbreaking to Erin. In fact, their feelings of helplessness resonated so strongly with Erin’s own sense of vulnerability and victimhood that she became even more determined to take up their cause. As she probed deeper and deeper into the case, Erin then discovered that the problem was far more serious than she had originally thought – involving dozens, even hundreds of victims of groundwater contamination. Now, with a tidal wave of mounting evidence and after overcoming Ed's reluctance to take on PG&E, Erin intensified her research into the case against PG&E. Erin struggled with the dual responsibilities of work and raising three children until a part-time construction worker named George moves in next door and befriends the family. Later George took over the task of caring for Erin's children so she is free to pursue the case. While she is probing into the case, she receives an anonymous call threatening her family if she does not stop. Largely as a result of their trust and confidence in Erin, more than 400 Hinkley families agreed to appoint Masry's firm to represent their claim against PG&E on the condition that Masry bears all the costs and gets 40% of the award, if there is any. A short time later, the Masry's firm won a crucial decision in the case at the local level. Despite the utility company’s best efforts to block Erin’s action, the local court ruled that the case against the utility was a worthy one, and should be allowed to proceed to trial at the district level. In response, PG&E came forward offering a settlement of about $40 million to more than 400 Hinkley families, but Masry and Erin rejected the offer as insignificant. Having spent a considerable portion of his career savings in pursuing the case this far and faced with the prospect of long and very costly legal proceedings, Masry eagerly accepts the offer of a top law firm to partner in the case and reimburse the costs he has already incurred. The lawyers at this firm look down on Erin as unqualified and unprofessional until she demonstrates her extraordinary knowledge of all details of the case and the close personal relationships she has built up with her clients. Maximum Effort Still a major obstacle stood in the way of successfully prosecuting the case. Though there was ample proof that local PG&E officials were negligent and therefore culpable of contaminating the groundwater around Hinckley – causing many to suffer and even die – there was no proof that officials from PG&E's corporate headquarters in San Francisco had any direct knowledge and involvement in the case. The Hinkley office of PG&E was incorporated as a separate company with very limited financial capacity to compensate the victims. Unless corporate could be implicated, any final settlement would be grossly inadequate to compensate all the victoms. They had to find some way to prove that top officials at PG&E headquarters were aware of the Hinkley problem and negligent in addressing it. In order to proceed with the case, it was also necessary to obtain signed legal statements from each and every household, an enormous, time consuming and very costly task. Realizing that the outcome was now in her hands, Erin then took it upon herself to make the herculean effort to secure the required signatures. And so in the days that followed, she worked relentlessly, visiting every victim in the Hinckley area to secure the signed documents. Over time George has become a pillar of Erin, taking care of the kids so she can work and offering emotionally encouragement to her. Just when she needs him most, George announces he is leaving her because she has so thoughtlessly taken all his efforts for granted. Though Erin exhibited uncommon bravery, grit, and determination throughout, this latest near-superhuman physical and psychological effort began to take its toll. In fact, one day she completely collapsed under the strain, and was taken to a local hospital. There she learned that she had come down with a form of meningitis – perhaps the result of her earlier daring effort to acquire soil samples at the main contamination storage site. Fortunately, she was released after several days, and then, remarkably, resumed her formidable effort despite near total exhaustion. Life Response At this crucial juncture, life came forward to supply the missing link. One evening after another exhausting day of collecting signatures, Erin stopped at a Hinkley bar for one last signature. A strange looking man sitting at the bar approached her. Because Erin had always been concerned that someone on the other side of the case might take hostile action against her, she now felt truly threatened. The man introduced himself as Charles Embry, a former employee of PG&E, who had evidence implicating PG&E corporate. He said he had been watching Erin and decided she was someone he could trust implicitly. He explained that he had approached her because the previous day his close relative had died due to illness contracted while working for PG&E and now Charles had decided he must speak up. He then revealed to her that he had been ordered to shred documents implicating corporate, but that he had not destroyed the crucial documents. He subsequently provided Erin with all the evidence needed to win the case! At the end of a lengthy legal process, PG&E paid out an incredible $333 million settlement to the victims, the largest direct action lawsuit in U.S. history. For Erin Brockovich, it meant the end of her life of struggle – of poverty, insecurity, and low self-esteem -- and the beginning of an entirely new existence. For the long-suffering people of Hinckley, it was the acknowledgement that a great wrong had been perpetuated, which they were now being handsomely compensated for. Masry had agreed to pay Erin generously in the event they won the case. In view of her extraordinary efforts and contribution, Masry decided that the amount Erin had asked was too small. Instead he paid Erin $2 million. As a result of their success, Masry and Erin are able to sign on several other similar cases that are even larger than the Hinkley case. Erin's Character Erin is strong, hard working, resourceful, responsible, and self-reliant. Though her behavior is rough and defensive, her basic values and intentions are positive. She feels abused and abandoned by life and struggles to make ends meet so she can raise her children in a proper manner. She is intolerant and easily provoked by those with superior aires. She exhibits an high native intelligence and a great personal empathy that wins the trust of Hinkley residence. She exhibits an extraordinary capacity for perseverance. Life Responses #Erin meets Masry as the result of her car accident. In a moment of bravado, Masry promises to win the case which he fails to do. His broken promise becomes an excuse for Erin to demand a job from him later. Ultimately he does win 'the case' -- fulfilling his initial promise to her. #After Erin loses the personal injury case, she finds it impossible to get a job anywhere. That forces her to go back to Masry and ask for work. Thus her misfortune creates the circumstances that lead ultimately to great good fortune. #She is assigned to process the pro-bono Hinkley real estate case, which is apparently a routine insignificant affair. Actually life has placed in her hands an incredible opportunity. It is her aspiration and resourcefulness that convert the routine matter into a chance of a life time. #Masry fired her and then was forced to take her back after the call from the professor. As a result she got a pay rise and a more secure position in the firm. #George moves in next door, but she rudely rejects his friendly advances. Shortly thereafter her unreliable babysitter unexpectedly leaves the children with George, who fondly attends on them. Later George befriends the family and later becomes her lover. After life has deserted her for so long, this is a sign of changing times. First a job, then the Hinkley case, and now a reliable man. #From then on, life responses continue to be favorable. First the decision of the judge rejecting 84 objections by PG&E validates their case. Then the larger law firm comes forward to relieve Masry's financial pressures. As a result, Erin gets a $5000 bonus and a new car. #At the most crucial juncture, Charles Embry comes forward with the essential proof required to win the case. It is a direct response to Erin's aspiration, hard work and personal commitment to the people of Hinkley. #Finally, Masry offers Erin an unimaginable bonus of $2 million and a leading role in his firm. Summary This is a true story story of phenomenal accomplishment by a remarkable individual who had sunk to the lowest level of desperation and then was propelled to national fame. It demonstrates that aspiration and determination are the real determinants, not external circumstances and opportunities. Erin's aspiration created its own opportunities and it brought about all the conditions needed for its fulfilment. It is significant that life became so desperate before it turned around. It takes tremendous faith, courage and perseverance to keep striving in spite of insurmountable obstacles. Erin's story shows that it is precisely these difficult conditions that are the crucible for tremendous accomplishment. Everything depends on how we respond to them. The spiritual truth is that we get precisely those conditions which are necessary for our progress. The only thing that matters is how we respond to the circumstances life presents us. ---- Back to Films for review Category:Case Studies:Cinema